2) If you are NEW to the SIG, you can still participate; just submit a current photo of you holding a sign saying “Happy 30th Anniversary, SIG-III!”

3) Once uploaded, add a brief description: when, where the photo or video was taken and who is in it.

All uploaded photos and videos will be entered in a random draw for a $50 Amazon.com gift card. The winner will be announced on Monday, October 29, 2012 during the International Reception at the ASIS&T 2012 Annual Meeting in Baltimore. Selected photos and videos will be displayed at the International Reception.

And the best part, you can submit up to 10 entries. The more photos or videos you submit, more chances you get to win.

Some suggestions for possible photo/video submissions:

Annual meetings and events

International receptions

InfoShare Program

Mentorship Program

SIG-III Chair Visits

Finally, please note that by participating in this draw, you give SIG-III permission to republish, refer to, or use your photo or video in any format or medium at any time during SIG-related events or in SIG-related publications.

To celebrate the official launch of ASIS&T SIG III’s Twitter account (@sig3i), this month we conducted a random draw among our Twitter followers. We are pleased to announce that the winner of our draw and recipient of the $50 Amazon.com gift card is Isabella Peters (@Isabella83) from Heinrich-Heine-Universität Duesseldorf in Germany!!!

Congratulation, Isabella!

We also invite everyone to follow our @sig3i account for the latest news and updates about the SIG as well as tweets about research, news & jobs for ASIS&T members from around the globe.

To encourage and facilitate international informational exchanges via Twitter among ASIS&T members, SIG-III has launched a new Twitter account: @sig3i

The account is managed by a dynamic team of volunteers who will work to highlight and promote research done by SIG members and colleagues. The account will also feature news from ASIS&T scholars around the globe as well as job and funding opportunities.

To celebrate the launch our new account, we are also announcing a random drawing on Twitter with a chance to win a $50 gift certificate for Amazon.com.For a chance to win:

It’s a little over a month old, but I’ve not yet posted about the following report by Bruce Etling, John Kelly, Rob Faris, and John Palfrey, so I will do so now. It is titled Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture, and Dissent, and is published by Harvard’s Berkman Center for the Internet and Society.

I’m being kicked out of my office this afternoon while some of my university’s tech people work on my Internet connection. While I am without my computer I will work on SIG-III’s annual report, but I hope to be able to steal a bit of time away to read this report as well. If you’ve read it and have any thoughts or reactions, leave a comment below — I’d love to hear what you think.

On the same topic, I’ll also point to Nasrin Alavi’s We Are Iran. As with Etling et al’s report, I’d love to hear any thoughts you have on Dr. Alavi’s book. She’s even put a sample chapter online as well.

Today I ran across thesetwo articles, one by Tom Peter in the Christian Science Monitor, and the other by Holly Jackson at CNet news. These articles note the use of Second Life as a venue for intercultural exchange, particularly at the virtual campuses different universities have set up in Second Life. (See for example the image of San Jose State’s virtual campus in the screenshot above). Peter says that

Around the world, universities, and even the US Department of State, are turning to online virtual worlds to create cultural exchanges. In these immersive, 3-D environments, users from around the globe can collaborate in ways that were previously impossible.

He also notes a group of university students in the United Arab Emerates who used Second Life to visit a virtual rendition of Darfur, make a pilgrimage to (virtual) Mecca, and interact with a group of Korean students to promote a cross-cultural exchange.

I find this a very worthwhile and exciting use of Second Life (or a second life clone such as IMVU, Gaia, or There). I believe such interaction will offer positive benefits as the world continues to grow interconnected and international projects such as Mainland Brasil (the Brazilian version of Second Life) continue to expand.

Does Korea have the highest participation because of CyWorld, or because Koreans love to connect?

Why are Germany, and especially France, so low? Is it something about the way French people behave online, or is there an opening for a great French social network (or the French version of an existing one, like Facebook)?

The data from France is something I found particularly interesting. Given that the French blogosphere is active, I would be interested to know why the number of regular social network users in France is comparatively low. Josh finishes his post by asking for reader comments regarding their thoughts on how social network use will play out in the countries listed in the chart. I invite you to do the same below.